We REALLY Love Football

Day: 145
High Temp: 39F (unfortunately, its only 30F right now)

The love of football by Texans is a cliche of epic proportions. While I am not saying every cliche is true, this one most definitely is. Here in Austin, the state capital of the second largest state in the land, we have no professional athletic teams. That's okay, though. We content ourselves with athletic teams of the collegiate variety, especially of the college football variety. Literally the entire city, and surrounding areas, root for the Longhorns. Add to that the fact that UT graduates somewhere in the realm of 10,000 students every year and you gotta figure that UT fans number well into the millions.

As you may have heard, the Longhorns are playing in the BCS Championship tonight, and as I have already established, college football is a BIG deal here. Just how big? Well the dean of the nursing school (a brilliant woman who has a PhD and is a Fellow of the American Association of Nursing - an elite group) was wearing her burnt orange today. They are selling burnt orange sourdough boules and baguettes at the local HEB. The anchor woman on News 8 Austin last night was wearing a burnt orange blazer AND had one of those little metal long horn charms hanging from her necklace. Not to mention the Burger King special featuring "Burnt Orange Sauce"...

I like football, a lot. And am this year, for the first time ever, starting to appreciate how fun it is to root for a college football team (I have, of course, for years understood the joy of being a Chicago Bears fan). I am happy to have a chance to witness the end of bowl season mayhem. It scares me a little, but it's fun to get into the spirit of things. And I know that a season like this one might not come around again for the Longhorns while I am here. Hook 'em horns!